Does anybody know if a six cylinder was the standard engine or was the 283 V8 the standard motor in these cars?(64 SS ) By "standard" I mean the default motor installed from the factory if no particular engine option was specified otherwise.

Chevy had different base prices for six cylinder & eight cylinder cars. You could get a 1964 Malibu SS as a 6 and would get a 194 as base, or for extra you could get a chromed 230. As an alternate you could order a base Malibu SS with a V8 and get a 283 2-barrel as standard. A 4-barrel dual exhaust version was optional, later joined by a 250-horse 327 and later still a 300-horse version. There is some debate but there were plans to also offer a Corvette 365-horse 327.

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Looking through some '65 sales lit I have, it indicates that although the six cylinder engines were available in all body and trim styles, and were a lower cost alternative than the V8, the 2 barrel 283 was actually the "standard" engine. You could "option" a 230 for fewer $$.

Looking through some '65 sales lit I have, it indicates that although the six cylinder engines were available in all body and trim styles, and were a lower cost alternative than the V8, the 2 barrel 283 was actually the "standard" engine. You could "option" a 230 for fewer $$.

I've seen a couple of six banger ss 65s, they're kinda neat.

May be true of other series but there was still a Malibu SS 6-cyl and V8 in 1965 under series/model 13737/67 for the 6-cyl and 13837/67 for the V8 so there was a 'base' engine in both series.

I'd be curious to see the sales literature that says the V8 was the base engine for all Chevelles in 65 and the 6-cyl was an 'option'. It may read as though you have an option to buy a 6-cyl series as opposed to the V8 but not as a Regular Production Option (RPO). Can you post a quote of how it reads?

i have an original add from macleans and in it it says,,chevelle has four engines including a std 6 or v8 with optional 220hp v8 !combine these with three proven transmissions and you've a choice of 10 power teams
a 327 was not a option till later in the production year